“Where’s my mom?”
That was a good question.
“I was kidnapped,” she said, her eyes wild as she shifted from staring at Kevin to looking at me to checking out the traffic beyond the windows. “My mom was coming to town, and I was cleaning my place and someone came in through the back door…they made me say things to her…they…” Her eyes came back to me. “Brian?”
“Yes. Brian Callahan. I’m an old friend of your mother’s.”
“They said your name. Are you…?” She backed up against the door. “Are you one of them?”
“No, Brianna. I’m not.”
I reached for her, but she panicked, turning and trying to open the door. Thank God Kevin had the presence of mind to lock the door and press the button that wouldn’t allow her to unlock it.
“I’m a friend of your mom’s. We came here to find you.”
“My mom…”
Tears overflowed her eyes. A sob slipped from between her lips, even as her eyes continued to move from window to window, from me to Kevin and back again.
“Your mom and I are old friends. She came to Boston and showed me the videos and the text messages your kidnappers were sending her.”
“She showed you?”
“She wanted me to get you back for her. And I did.”
She focused on me again, taking in everything about me. Some calm came to her, but tears still rolled in big globs down her face.
“Is my mom okay? I was so afraid something…they wanted her to gather information on you. I was afraid you would hurt her.”
“I would never do that,” I said, speaking without thinking. But there was something in my voice that calmed her, that made her focus harder on me.
“You’re from Boston?”
“I am.”
“My mom went to college in Boston before she married my dad.”
“I know. That’s when I met her. She was waiting for a bus on a rainy day in October.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “She would never talk much about her time in Boston. But she did tell me once about a guy with intense green eyes she met at a bus stop. Said he offered her a ride because it was raining, but she’d always been told not to get into cars with strangers.”
“She said no at first, but I convinced her I wasn’t a stranger.”
Brianna inclined her head slightly. There was new interest in her eyes as she studied me, interest that dulled the fear.
“You’re the one.”
“The one?”
Brianna reached up to run her hands through her hair, but she caught sight of the bandages on her wrists and she stopped. She touched them, almost as if she didn’t understand what they were. And then she found the bloody spot where I’d removed the IV line, her thumb brushing over the growing bruise.
“I was in the hospital?”
“Yes. But they called the police and we can’t wait around for the police to sort things out.”
“Why not? Where’s my mom?”
I took her hand and held it gently between both of mine, encouraging her to look me in the eye.
“You have to trust me, Brianna. I know after everything you’ve been through, that’s asking a lot. But you have to trust me.”
She was quiet for a long moment, her tears drying on her cheeks. Her eyes were so bright, they reminded me of my sister’s eyes. Kathleen. She’d been a beautiful girl up until the day her husband beat her to death. I would never forget her eyes, the plea in them when she asked for help three days before he found her in the room I’d put her in, until he killed her. And I would never forget his eyes, the light going out of them as I paid him back. His family still had no idea what happened to him.
I failed Kathleen. I wouldn’t fail Brianna. Or Cassidy.
“Where’s my mom?”
A little panic came into her voice then. Kevin happened to pull into the parking garage of a large hotel where we’d thought ahead and had a room reserved. Brianna followed me out of the car and let me help her to the elevator, my arm around her waist. She nearly collapsed as we boarded the elevator car, her eyes rolling back in her head.
“She needs water,” Kevin said.
I just nodded as I scooped her up into my arms. Once we were in the room and Brianna was resting on the king-sized bed, I told Kevin to leave.
“I won’t get you mixed up in all this.”
“I’m already mixed up. Besides I want to be here.”
“No, Kevin. Rent a car. Drive to Palo Alto or wherever. Go visit some friends. I don’t want you here for this.”
“Pops—”
“I won’t have another of my sons mixed up in this bullshit. Go.”
Kevin reluctantly left. I flipped the security lock on the door and grabbed a handful of water bottles from the bar before going in to sit with Brianna. She was conscious, but weak. I helped her sit up and held a bottle to her lips.
“Your mom’s been super worried about you. She was afraid they might have hurt you.”
She lay back with a heavy sigh. “No,” she said. “The worst part was the zip ties they put on my wrists whenever they took me out to make the video. But they never hurt me. They let me have a shower once a day and they fed me decent food twice a day.”
“What about the drugs?”
Her eyebrows rose. “What drugs?”
Must have been in the food.
I offered her more water, and she took it, lying back again with a heavy sigh.
“You’re my father, aren’t you?”
I wasn’t sure what to say. But I could hardly deny it.
“I am.”
“Did you know about me?”
“No.” I took her hand and pressed it between both of mine. “How did you know? She said she never told you.”
A slow smile slipped over her lips. “My dad has jet black hair and brown eyes. My mom has dark brown hair and blue eyes. Where did the red hair and green eyes come from?”
I smiled. “Maybe there’s Irish in your mom’s ancestry.”
She shook her head. “All my nieces and nephews have dark hair and dark eyes. My uncles have dark hair and dark eyes. Even my aunts are mostly dark haired with dark eyes. My mom’s eyes…I don’t know where they come from, but there’s no Irish in that family.”
I ran my hand over hers, slipping it over her wrist. “Does she know you know?”
“I doubt it. We never talked about it.”
“She did it for you, you know.”
She nodded. “I know.” She sighed, closing her eyes as she did. “My grandmother was a tough woman. My grandpa let her get away with a lot of stuff, never realizing the impact it had on my mom and her siblings. They were all afraid of my grandmother right up until the day she died.”
She peeked at me from under her lashes. “I know my mom would support me if I came to her, pregnant and alone. But my grandmother? She would have kicked her out of the house and cut her out of the family, denied her of her rightful place. She would have had nowhere to go.”
“And your dad?”
She smiled softly. “He loved her. Still loves her.”
I was glad for that. As much as it hurt to hear, I was glad for that. Cassidy deserved to be with someone who loved her even if she didn’t return the feeling.
“Was he good to her? To you?”
“Oh, yes,” she said, a soft sigh emerging with her words. “He would have done anything for either of us. We’re still close. I talk to him every Sunday…at least, I did. Before this.”
“You should call him. But not yet.”
Her eyes moved over my face. “You wouldn’t mind?”
“Why would I?”
“It doesn’t bother you? That another man was my dad?”
I took a deep breath, considering that question. “I’ve known about you for all of three days. I don’t think I have the right to make a claim on you. I’m only grateful I’m able to meet you, and that we might have the possibility of getting to know one another.”
&n
bsp; “No wonder she loved you so much. You’re a good man.”
“No, I’m not.”
Her brows knitted together as she studied me then.
“Do they have my mom?”
I dropped my head, pulling her hand to my lips as I brushed her knuckles with a light kiss.
“I don’t know, but I’m afraid they do.”
She sat up suddenly, pushing against my shoulders so that I would look at her.
“You have to find her. You have to get her back.”
“I know.”
“You don’t understand. They’ll hurt her. One of the guys said things…” She’d paled even more than before. “They’ll hurt her.”
“We’ll find her.”
I said it firmly, with confidence. I only wished I felt that confident.
I left Brianna alone in the bedroom after a few minutes, watching as she finished drinking one of the bottles of water and began on the next. She seemed stronger even as she curled up and fell asleep. I was worried, but I was pretty sure she’d be okay.
I’d take her to see my doctor when we got back to Boston.
“What’s going on at the condo complex?”
Ian cleared his throat. “Cops everywhere. I don’t think whoever they were are coming back.”
“We’re at the hotel. Come pick me up.”
“What’s next?”
I didn’t know, but doing something was better than sitting around here, waiting.
***
We drove. There were an infinite number of places Cassidy could have gone after leaving the airport. We could drive all night and never see hide nor hair of her. But we drove anyway.
“Someone had to have taken her from the airport.”
Ian shook his head. “I called a friend. There were no disruptions at the airport, no reports of a struggle. Wherever she went, she went freely.”
“Just because no one reported—”
“This day and age? With all the increased security? You look at someone funny in an airport these days and someone will report you.”
“Did you call taxi services?”
“No one fitting her description took a taxi from the airport in that time frame.”
“What about—?”
“She didn’t pay for a ride, Pops. Someone picked her up.”
“Call the local wrecker services. See if someone’s abandoned a car recently.”
“I did. Nothing yet.”
I was trying to think of everything we could do, but it seemed like Ian had thought of it all.
“If she’d kept her phone…”
“That’s probably why they made her leave it behind.”
Ian nodded. “Whoever’s doing this, he’s smart.”
“Brianna said there were several people.”
“But I’d bet there’s only one leader. And he’s the one making the plan, the one sending the messages, the one doing the videos. He’s the one making sure we can’t trace him.”
“And he’ll be the one who’ll want to show me how smart he is. He’ll contact me.”
Ian glanced at me. “He will. I’d guarantee it.”
I nodded, my thoughts spinning like a top.
“Let’s go back to the hotel and wait for him there.”
Chapter 27
Cassidy
They dragged me out of the van. I had no idea where we were or what they were doing. I wasn’t even sure of how many people were still with me. I’d heard the doors of the van open and close enough to allow a dozen people to come and go. There were hands on my upper arms and someone carrying my feet. I was still tied up. We’d moved after the phone call came, so I guess there weren’t as many chances for them to get caught wherever we were.
I tried to ask where we were, but it only came out in jumbled sounds.
“Do yourself a service and be quiet,” Ricky whispered near my ear.
I stiffened when I realized he was the one holding my arms.
They took me inside. I could tell by the change in light filtering through my blindfold and the dustiness of the new location. We were in an old building of some sort. And then there was a new voice.
“Put her in the chair.”
I was dropped, my feet slapping the floor. Someone cursed—I thought it might be Ricky—and then I was set carefully into a chair. The blindfold was suddenly ripped away and I found myself looking into the face of the Phantom of the Opera. At least, that’s what he looked like with his mask on.
“I’m going to take off your gag,” he said softly. I knew his voice. It was Ricky. “I’ll try to be as gentle as possible.”
He picked at the edge of the tape. After a minute, another masked man moved up behind him.
“Just tear it off.”
“I don’t want to hurt her.”
“She’s getting much worse than this very soon.”
Ricky pursed his lips, but he tugged at the tape, pulling it off a little faster than he seemed to intend. The pain was sharp and immediate, but it only lasted a second. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and my heart sank into my belly, but he only used it to cut my ties.
“Don’t try to go anywhere.”
He stood up and moved back. A bright light came on and suddenly I couldn’t see beyond a camera that was set up just a few feet in front of me.
“You’re going to record a message for Brian,” the new voice said. It was low, rough, as if whoever was speaking was purposely trying to alter the sound of his voice. “You’re going to tell him he needs to choose. He needs to choose between you and his daughter.”
The breath flew from my lungs.
“Don’t touch my daughter!”
“Not yours, sweetheart. She’s already been released.”
Relief made my shoulders sag.
“Brian has two daughters. Yours and young, sweet Stacy. She’s just gotten engaged to be married, you know.”
“You wouldn’t hurt her.”
“Don’t put it past me. And don’t take for granted that Brian would choose you.”
I strained to see past the camera, but the light was too bright.
“You can’t do that. You can’t make him choose.”
“I won’t. You will.”
I shivered, remembering the feel of the knife against my throat. But Brianna was safe. She was going to be okay and that was all that mattered. They could do whatever they wanted with me just as long as Brianna was okay.
“Okay,” I said into that light. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
There was silence for a long time before the voice came back.
“This is what you say…”
Chapter 28
Brian
Brianna was still asleep when we let ourselves back into the hotel room. We’d only been there a few minutes when my phone beeped.
A video had come over a text sent by a number I didn’t recognize.
Ian took my phone without asking, touching the button and holding it out so we could both see it. Cassidy, her pretty face pale, stared at the camera, tears in her eyes even as she was clearly trying to remain stoic.
“I’m okay,” she said, her voice low and well controlled despite the tears. “Please know I’m okay. And thank you so much for finding Brianna!”
“Get on with it,” a deep voice said, but not without kindness.
She glanced off to the side, apparently looking at the speaker. Then she focused on the camera again.
“They want you to choose.” She took a deep breath. “They said you can have me back, but if you choose me, they’ll go after Stacy. They’ll kill her.”
Ian glanced at me, but I was staring at Cassidy. An anger like nothing I’d ever felt before was building in my chest, threatening to explode. My hands shook. My breath came in short gasps. I needed to hurt someone.
“I love you, Brian,” Cassidy said. “I know what you have to do. It’s okay.”
The video went dark.
I shook my head.
“No, no, no!”
>
“Pops…”
“She’s telling me not to come for her. She’s saying she wants me to protect Stacy and to let her go.”
“Listen to me—”
“I won’t do that. I won’t turn away from her again!”
“Pops!” Ian grabbed me by the shoulders. “They screwed up. I know where they are.”
“What are you talking about?”
Ian pulled up the video again, pausing it just seconds after it began. He touched the screen, pointing to some vague writing on the wall behind Cassidy.
“Do you see that?”
“I can’t tell what it says.”
“I can. That’s the logo for Luli Farms. They must be at one of their old warehouses.”
“But they must have dozens.”
“I doubt it. They were pretty small before they went out of business.”
“Then how do you know…?”
Ian shrugged. “I absorb information. I came across a story about them in the Wall Street Journal some time back.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
As he said it, my phone buzzed again. I took it from him and read the text that had just arrived from the same number as the video.
You have three hours to decide.
I turned away, the image of Cassidy in that video burned on my cornea. She looked so frightened until the very end. Until she told me she knew what choice I’d make and that it was okay. I felt sick to my stomach. She was comparing this decision to the one I made all those years ago. She knew I would choose responsibility over happiness because I did it once before. But that wasn’t me anymore. As much as I loved each of my children, I couldn’t turn my back on Cassidy in order to protect Stacy. I wasn’t like her. I couldn’t do whatever it took to keep my child safe. I wanted them both.
I wanted to save Cassidy, but I wanted Stacy to be okay, too.
What was I going to do?
I was going to save them both.
“Find the warehouse. I’m going to call Killian and get him updated on all this.”
“Pops…”
He brought me my phone. Another text message had come in.
Do you really think sending Killian to New York will stop me?
VINCENT (Dragon Security Book 2) Page 45