For a moment the world seemed to move in slow motion. She felt suspended and tried to brace for the impact. It didn’t help. The SUV hit with bone jarring force and a sickening crunch. Her head slammed into the window and she heard breaking glass before darkness overtook her. She fought to stay conscious, the airbag held her to her seat but her arms and legs flapped like a rag doll as vehicle tumbled over and over. Finally after what felt like years she came to a stop. She could hear hissing air and ticking, the crunched metal around her groaned and creaked. She tried to open her eyes but they wouldn’t obey her command, neither would her arms or legs. “Oh my God I am paralyzed,” was her last thought before she slipped into oblivion.
A sharp knock at the door caused Ethan to look up from his computer. It didn’t sound like Norma. The door swung open and Jace walked in. He looked agitated. That put Ethan on edge immediately. He stood and braced his hands on the desk.
“What is it?”
“We have a situation.” Ethan wanted to demand to know if Erica was okay, he forced himself not to. Not everything could be about Erica and Jace was already irritated by his fascination with her.
“What’s going on?”
“I wish I could frame this better but… well…” Jace took a deep breath, “When I came in this morning Diane was in my office. She was, well she was naked as a jay bird.” Jace rushed out, his accent slipping through showing his agitation. Ethan wasn’t sure what to say, he felt his eyebrows go up.
“Please tell me you didn’t come here to have me get her out of your office?”
“No, I told her to stay put and I went and got Nancy in HR and security.” Ethan smirked at that. Nancy was as straight laced as they come; she would not have been amused at the antics of Jace’s admin.
“Problem is when they went in to get her out she started screaming and crying saying she had been assaulted.” Ethan’s brows rose even higher but now his mouth dropped open as well.
“Was she still naked?”
“No, but her clothes were messed up like there was a struggle.” Jace sighed. Ethan looked at his best friend, the man who’d had his back every single time he needed it. The man who had saved his life. Even if Jace wasn’t standing here calmly explaining. He still would have known there was no way Jace assaulted anyone.
“You don’t look worried.”
“I’m not.” Jace shrugged, “My office is completely wired. Every inch is covered by camera. It’s how I test the new ones.” Ethan smiled; leave it to Jace to have the whole thing on tape.
“Don’t take this the wrong way but have you ever slept with Diane?”
“You kidding? The woman is crazy as a loon. I like my man parts right where they are thanks!”
“Just checking.”
“You know this could be bad.” Jace said seriously. “The publicity alone could hurt business. If I need to step down…”
“Don’t.” Ethan cut him off. “Absolutely not.”
“Ethan, think of the business.”
“Jace, stop right there. Let’s just see how this plays out. Don’t go throwing yourself on your sword just yet.”
“All right well you should come with me, the police will be here soon.”
“You called the police?” He walked with him back toward his office which was in the opposite corner of the building.
“Yeah, when I saw her hysterical.”
“Maybe you should have waited, I mean she was probably just trying to get a payoff or something.”
“I am sure that’s what she was doing but I’ll be dammed if I am going to let her extort anything from me or this company when I didn’t do anything wrong!” Jace growled his hands fisted as he walked. Ethan smiled, it was nice to see the display of anger. Jace had been entirely too calm.
The police were just stepping off the elevator and they escorted them to Jace’s office while Jace explained his side of the story. They found Diane sitting on the sofa in Jace’s office. Flanked on either side of her were Nancy and Norma. Both of them looked bewildered.
Ethan felt his apprehension rise, if Diane was good enough to cause these two to doubt Jace then surely she could convince these cops, and a judge and jury for that matter. Diane’s eyes widened slightly when she saw the cops but when her eyes settled on Jace she shrank back and began to cry again. Anger on his friend’s behalf surged through Ethan.
A female officer stepped forward and Norma moved to let her sit by Diane. The male officer led Jace away. After a few minutes the female officer had finished taking Diane’s statement. Jace looked even more pissed than before and Ethan knew either the cop had been none too friendly or more likely he had heard some of Diane’s accusation. The tension in the room was thick as the two police officers compared notes.
Jace strode to his desk and began pressing buttons on his computer.
“Excuse me.” he said loudly, “Before anyone has to call their lawyer. There is one more thing ya’ll should see.” He held up a remote and pointed it at the wall of monitors on the other side of his office. Surveillance was one of the departments Jace oversaw. He had monitors for nearly every camera in the place. Now they all switched to one image working like a jumbotron. They all watched Jace’s office with a view from above. The time stamp in the corner showed the time to be a little over an hour before. They all saw Diane enter the office fully clothed. She sat down at Jace’s desk and looked over all the papers on top. Then she went through the drawers. It was hard to tell if she was looking for something or just snooping. Then she stuck a flash drive into his computer and began typing on the keyboard. Finally she glanced at her watch and then began unbuttoning her blouse. Jace paused the playback and turned to Diane. She no longer looked like a shattered victim. Now she looked pissed.
“Shall I keep going so that these officers can see you get naked and pose provocatively on my desk?”
“No.” Diane glared. If looks could ignite Jace would be a pile of ash.
As amusing as this scene was turning out to be Ethan still had a company to run. He made a valiant effort to hide his smile as he turned to leave. Outside Jace’s office he encountered another officer, this one he recognized,
“Hey Sean.”
“Ethan.”
“I have work to do so I am headed back to my office, you can go on in. I have a feeling the fun is just beginning in there.” Sean glanced at the office and then back at Ethan frowning.
“I am here to see you Ethan.”
“Oh. What’s up?”
“Can we go in your office?”
“Sure, follow me.” Ethan felt an uncomfortable sense of dread prickle the back of his neck. As soon as he closed the door to his office he pinned Sean with a hard stare. “What’s wrong?”
“I have to tell you I am not here in an official capacity. I probably shouldn’t even be here but I overheard something from CHP and my gut told me I should check it out.”
Ethan wished he would just spit it out, the longer Sean took to say whatever was on his mind, the worse his gut churned.
“All right, what’s up?”
“One of your cars, one of your fleet was found this morning. It had been in an accident. The diver was gone, there was a broken beer bottle and the smell of beer was strong.” Ethan’s frown darkened. “CHP is investigating it as a DUI and leaving the scene, but… well it didn’t fit in my mind. Do you know who might have been driving?”
“I can find out, do you have the plate?” Sean pulled a note book from his pocket and started to rattle off the number. Ethan headed towards his computer to look it up but stopped dead when he heard the combination of letters and numbers. He spun back to Sean.
“The Range Rover?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my God, Erica! Erica was driving.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that.” Sean said grimly. He pulled a cell from his pocket and began dialing.
“You said the driver is gone?” Sean nodded. “So what someone just… just took her?”
“It looks that way.” Ethan felt his knees weaken. The bastard had her. He quickly went to his computer while Sean rapidly spoke to someone on the phone.
Ethan brought up the GPS tracking on the Rover. It was moving down the highway, presumably being towed. He pulled up the GPS in Erica’s phone and it was in nearly the same place. That wasn’t going to be any help.
“CHP is on their way over.” Sean said approaching the desk.
“Tell me everything you know.”
“I told you pretty much everything I know. One of our guys took the initial report, since it’s outside city he called in CHP. I didn’t see the car but my buddy said it was pretty smashed up. CHP saw the beer bottle and immediately went for DUI. That’s when my buddy called me. He had run the plate and of course it came back here.”
Ethan paced, swamped by a feeling of helplessness. “Erica doesn’t drink beer. Certainly not at,” he looked at his watch, “Eight thirty in the morning.”
“I know.” Sean said softly.
“Where was the Range Rover?”
“Out on highway 113. It went off the road, rolled into an irrigation ditch. There was blood on the air bag.” He said the last almost reluctantly and Ethan grimaced.
CHP arrived relatively quickly and began taking his statement. Much to Ethan’s relief they seemed to be taking it seriously despite the earlier assumption that it was a DUI. They showed him Erica’s phone in a plastic bag and he felt his control slip just a bit. Erica wouldn’t leave it behind on purpose. He pushed the button and the phone lit up. He unlocked it and much to his surprise it opened to a text message to him. It hadn’t been sent but it was just letters and numbers.
“Do you think this could be a license plate? Maybe someone ran her off the road. Did you canvass looking for witnesses?”
“We are canvassing the houses in the area but there aren’t many. It’s farm country.”
Ethan went to his computer to run the number through his software. “Oh my God.” He gasped when he got the results.
“Who is Diane Clements?” The officer asked looking over his shoulder.
Shafts of pain pulsed through Erica's head. In her mind the pain was like a bolt of lightning shooting through her head with each beat of her heart. She hadn't opened her eyes and she hadn't yet moved. Instinctively she knew that would be even more painful. Her curiosity and survival instincts were quickly overriding her fear of the pain. She needed to find out where she was. She needed to call for help. Cautiously she opened her eyes. She was in a dimly lit room lying on a cot or a small bed. She was facing the wall so she couldn't see much beyond old wood paneling. After listening for sounds of anyone nearby she finally turned her head then cautiously her body. The room was empty save for dust and the bed. There was a light fixture with no bulb in the center of the ceiling. The window appeared to have been boarded up from the outside. Sun was shining through the gaps providing the only light in the room.
Erica gingerly felt the side of her head. She could feel dried blood clumped in her hair fusing it to the side of her head. She had been here at least long enough for the wound to stop bleeding and dry. She had to find a way out of here. She sat up and immediately regretted the movement. The pain in her head spiked and her stomach lurched. She barely had time to lean over the edge of the bed before she threw up. She sat up much more slowly the second time. Her stomach and head still protested the motion but she managed not to throw up.
The pounding in her head made it hard to concentrate but she forced herself to try. There was really nothing in the room. Nothing to help her determine where she was. Nothing to help her determine who had taken her out of her car. She could only assume that the person who held her now was the same person who had run her off the road. The same person who had been stalking her for weeks. The question that made her start to shake was what did he intend to do with her now? She closed her eyes and forced away all the possibilities. She couldn’t think about that now, not if she was going to get through this.
She scooted to the edge of the bed and tried to slowly stand up. Unfortunately, the second she put her feet on the floor pain shot through her left foot and halfway up her leg. Her breath huffed out in a whoosh and she dropped back down on the bed. The pain in her head had distracted her from everything else but now she tried to evaluate herself for injury. She was sore all over, but given the way the car had tumbled that wasn’t the least bit surprising.
Her head was obviously injured, in addition to her foot her right wrist hurt too. Once again she stood, this time she put all her weight on her right foot and limped to the door. She tried the door knob. She wasn’t surprised to find it locked but she was acutely disappointed. The door felt solid, she doubted she would have been able to break through it even if she weren’t injured. In her current state the mere idea of slamming her body into the door made her clench her teeth against a surge of pain.
Erica leaned against the wall to take some of the pressure off her foot. The wood paneling actually felt less substantial than the door. Looking around she thought she might be in an old mobile home. The question was where? Were there neighbors that might hear if she yelled? Or would yelling alert the psychopath holding her that she was awake? She pressed her ear to the door. She didn’t hear any voices but she heard thumps. It sounded like someone moving around in another part of the house. She wasn’t here alone.
Ethan bolted from the room. He ran to Jace’s office at a dead sprint. He surged through the door startling everyone in the room. Thankfully Diane was still there being questioned by the police.
“Where is she?” Everyone looked at him with puzzled expressions even Diane. “Where is Erica?” Jace and one of the police officers caught him before he reached Diane, holding him back.
“What’s going on?” Jace asked.
“Erica’s been kidnapped.” Ethan was trying hard to get control of his emotions but the cold fear that had seized his gut when Sean told him, was threatening to consume him.
“You think Diane has something to do with it?”
“Erica was run off the road by her car.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Diane protested, “I’ve been here.”
“She has been here, the surveillance proves it.” Jace whispered.
“Who’s driving your car?”
“If my car isn’t in the parking lot then I guess it’s been stolen.” Diane crossed her arms over her chest. The smug gesture pissed him off and he tried to grab her. Once again Jace held him back.
“Tell me where she is!” He roared and Diane actually looked a little scared for the first time.
“Mr. Reynolds you need to calm down.” The officer who was helping Jace restrain him spoke for the first time.
“Don’t tell me to calm down. The woman I love is missing, injured, bleeding! And she knows where to find her.” The female officer moved to Diane’s back and began reading her her rights and cuffing her.
“What are you doing? You can’t take her, not until she tells me where Erica is.”
“Mr. Reynolds she will be questioned by a detective down at the station. You need to let the police handle this now.” Ethan watched in helpless frustration as they led Diane out of the room.
“Ethan, we don’t even know for sure Diane was involved. We don’t know for sure what that text meant.” Sean said as if trying to comfort him. Ethan felt defeated, like there was a weight pressing down on his chest. How could he just sit here and do nothing. How could he leave it to the police? They didn’t know her, they didn’t care about her like he did. How much priority would they put on finding this one woman?
“What did they arrest her for? False report?” He wasn’t sure she could be arrested for that since they had stopped her before she actually filed a report.
“Corporate Espionage.”
“What?” Ethan whirled and met Jace’s eyes.
“The flash drive on the video, she installed a keystroke logger on my computer.” Jace sighed and ran his hand through his hair
. “She got my passwords. She had access to everything.” Ethan stared at his partner wide eyed.
“My current security code.” Ethan said softly.
“Yes, and the locations of all of our cameras, and the code to the utility room downstairs.”
“The power outage?”
“Yep.”
“But… she’s been stalking Erica? Why?”
“I’m not sure, I’m going to have to go back and see everything she accessed I’ve already got IT on it.”
“Maybe it was to distract you.” Sean suggested. Ethan had forgotten he was there.
“Distract me from what?”
“Distract you from work. With a threat to Erica, you are less likely to notice inconsistencies here?” Ethan’s knees were threatening to give out so he sank into a chair in front of Jace’s desk.
“So this is all about what? Money? Why kidnap Erica? Is there going to be a ransom demand?”
“That would be my guess.”
“It makes sense.” Jace spoke up, “We don’t access financials with our regular credentials. I haven’t had a reason to access any corporate accounts in a long time.”
“The finance department handles that.” Ethan murmured.
“But if there is a ransom for Erica, you’ll access them. Every one you have to.”
“Get IT in my office, hell get them all over the network. I want every computer swept, every password changed.” Ethan barked. “And sweep for bugs too.
“I’ll take care of that.” Ethan swiveled and saw Norma still sitting quietly on the couch. He had forgotten she was there too.
“Thanks Norma.” Ethan looked back at Jace. He looked into his partner’s eyes for a long moment.
“She wasn’t alone, someone has Erica.”
“So we just have to find her partner.” Jace finished his thought. Without further discussion they both went to work.
Morning After (A Reynolds Security Novel) Page 19