by Rita Herron
“You found Rice and Petey?”
“No,” Serna said in an anguished voice. “But there were two little girls in the hangar. Kinsey Jones and Ellie Pinkerton. Colt, he just left them there with no food or water. If they’d been locked there in this heat overnight and all day tomorrow, they could have died.”
“Are they hurt?”
“Not that I can see, just traumatized. Homer called the paramedics.”
“Good.”
“One of them said she knew Petey. He was with the girls in the back of the van.” Her voice cracked. “But the girls don’t know where Rice took him.”
Dammit. “Listen, Serena, I know this is frustrating and scary, but just remember that we know Petey’s alive. Hang on to that.” The sound of her sniffling tore at his heart.
“When will you be back?”
Colt breathed deeply, wanting to be with her now. “I don’t know. The detective is verifying my story. Just stay with the girls. I’ll phone Gage so he can let the FBI agent know you found them.”
Serena disconnected and he punched Gage’s number and filled him in.
“I’ll contact Agent Metcalf and Detective Shaw. Metcalf should be landing in Miami any minute. I’ll have him meet you at the private airport to inform the parents and arrange for the girls to go home.”
“Thanks, Gage.”
The detective strode toward him, working his jaw, and Colt hung up.
“Sergeant Sanchez confirmed your story. But I’ll need your statement and contact information before you leave.”
“Certainly.” Colt removed a business card and handed it to the officer. “Serena Stover just called. She found two of the children Rice had kidnapped locked in one of the hangars at the private airport. Special Agent Metcalf of the FBI is on his way there. You may want to update Sanchez.”
“I will.” The cop made a clicking sound with his teeth. “You’ve been busy, Mason. Maybe we need you down here.”
Colt grimaced. He didn’t know where he belonged, but he had to finish this case first. “Rice still has Petey Stover, and there’s an ocean of possibilities where he could take him.”
The cop’s expression confirmed his worst fears. Working in Miami he’d obviously grown accustomed to losing perps and victims to the waterways.
But Colt was not.
He wouldn’t stop or give up until he found Serena’s son.
SERENA CRADLED the little girls to her, her heart throbbing at the fear in their eyes. Homer had been so distraught when she’d brought the girls inside and explained where she’d found them that she’d feared he was going to have a heart attack.
She’d managed to calm him, and then he’d bought water and snacks from the vending machines for the children.
“Don’t worry, girls,” Serena whispered softly. “The police are coming and they’re calling your parents and arranging for you to go home.”
She wanted to ask details of what Rice and his accomplice had done to them, but fear and the realization that the girls needed loving care, not to be interrogated, kept her from pushing them for information.
Kinsey wiped at her eyes. “The big man was mean,” she said in a strained voice. “But the one with the bushy hair was even meaner. He tooked my blanket away.”
“And he stoled my doll,” Ellie said.
“Petey yelled at him to take us home, but he said we was never gonna see our mamas and daddies again, that they didn’t want us anymore.” Kinsey gulped back more tears.
Anger mushroomed inside Serena. “Those men lied to you, honey. Your mamas and daddies didn’t say that. They’ve been really upset and looking for you ever since you disappeared, just like I have for Petey.”
The screech of a police car interrupted their conversation, and Homer hobbled toward the front to let them in.
Serena glanced up as a dark-haired man in a suit strode in. He stopped in front of her, took one look at the girls and a relieved smile stretched across his face.
“I’m Special Agent Metcalf,” he said, giving her a quick nod. Then he knelt in front of the girls. “Kinsey, Ellie, I’ve already phoned your parents. They’re thrilled to know that you’re safe and can’t wait to see you. They’re catching the first available flights to Miami.” He lowered his voice to a soothing tone. “Until then we’re going to take you to the hospital and make sure you’re safe.”
Ellie clutched Serena’s hand. “I don’t like hospitals.”
Kinsey’s lower lip quivered. “Me neither. They give you shots.”
“Shots hurt,” Ellie whispered.
The agent looked at Serena as if he was at a loss, and she cuddled both girls to her. “They’re not going to give you shots, honey. They just want to make sure the bad men didn’t hurt you.”
“What if they come back?” Kinsey cried.
“They will never hurt you again,” Agent Metcalf said firmly. “I promise you they’re going to jail.”
Ellie angled her cherub face toward Serena, shivering against her. “Will you go with us?” Ellie whispered.
Serena wanted to be on the streets searching for Petey, but she had to wait on Colt. And there was no way she could abandon these two little girls now.
AS SOON AS COLT was allowed to leave the scene of James Ladden’s accident, he rushed back to the private airport to meet Serena. When he walked into the terminal, his gaze latched on to her where she sat cradling two tiny little girls. They looked terrified, lost and dirty, and so small and fragile that anger heated his blood. The idea of Rice and Ladden locking them in that hot hangar where they could have died made him want to inflict the same punishment on them.
Although Ladden was dead, Rice wasn’t. He’d have his chance….
The sound of an ambulance’s wail echoed from outside, and he glanced at Homer, who looked shaken by the ordeal, and then a suited man who he immediately assumed was the fed.
The agent stepped up to introduce himself. “Special Agent Mitchell Metcalf. I hear you’re tracking a child kidnapping ring.”
“Yeah, but my first priority is finding Petey Stover.”
“Right. I’ve already contacted these girls’ parents and they’re meeting us at the hospital.”
“I promised the girls I’d go with them,” Serena said.
Admiration stirred in Colt’s chest. Serena was terrified for her son, but still unselfish and loving enough to care for these other children.
The paramedics rushed in and Homer waved them over.
“I’ll follow in the rental car,” Colt said to Serena. “Then we’ll regroup.”
Serena soothed the girls while the medics carried them to the ambulance, and they allowed her to climb in the back and ride with them. He and Agent Metcalf followed.
When they arrived at the hospital, Colt was surprised they allowed Serena to stay with the girls, but one of the head nurses took charge, realized the trauma the girls had suffered and insisted they have an adult present who they felt safe with.
Colt and Metcalf drank bad coffee in the waiting room for the next hour and a half while a child psychologist interviewed the girls. Within minutes of one another the girls’ parents arrived.
“Where’s Kinsey?” Mrs. Jones asked. “Was she hurt?”
The Pinkertons rushed up to them. “And Ellie? Is she all right?”
“Both girls are fine,” Agent Metcalf said calmly, then introduced Colt. “Detective Mason and his client Serena Stover traced one of the kidnappers to a private airport. Ms. Stover actually rescued the girls from one of the hangars.”
“We want to see our girls,” Mr. Pinkerton demanded.
“Yes, please…” Kinsey’s mother’s voice warbled. “I’ve been so worried. I thought…”
She didn’t finish the sentence. Instead she burst into tears when Serena and the psychologist appeared with Kinsey and Ellie. Both parents rushed to embrace the children, crying and sobbing.
Emotions thickened Colt’s throat at the reunion. Relief for the children who’d been found.<
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Worry for Serena’s son who was still lost.
SERENA’S CHEST CONSTRICTED as she watched the girls collapse into their mothers’ waiting arms. Kinsey’s mother and Ellie’s mother and father were all crying, clinging to each other as if they were afraid to let go for fear they would disappear again.
She understood their fears.
Colt slid his arm around her shoulder, pulling her against him. “You did a wonderful thing today, Serena. You’re a brave woman.”
She dabbed at her eyes. “I don’t understand why he left the girls but took Petey.”
“Did they say anything about Rice or Ladden?” Colt lowered his voice so the parents couldn’t hear. “About what happened to them? Were they hurt?”
She shook her head no. “Thank God. The doctor said there was no evidence of physical or sexual abuse. Except for being emotionally traumatized and slightly dehydrated, the girls are fine.”
“I’m sure their parents will get them the counseling they need.” Colt paused. “Did either one of them mention where they were held or where Rice was going?”’
Serena’s throat hurt. “No. Once the girls are calmer and settled down, a forensic interviewer will talk to them. They might tell us more then, but they claimed that most of the time they were kept in the back of that van. It was dark. They couldn’t see anything, and couldn’t hear what the men were saying.”
Kinsey’s mother picked her daughter up and strode toward Serena. “You’re the woman who found my little girl, aren’t you?”
Serena nodded, and stroked Kinsey’s damp hair from her cheek. “I’m glad she’s all right.”
Ellie’s parents joined her with Ellie. “We don’t know how to thank you,” Ellie’s mother said in a shaky voice. Ellie’s father hugged his daughter tighter. “You gave us our daughter back. How can we repay you?”
Serena forced a smile. “Just pray that we find my son.”
All three parents gave her a collective hug and for a moment Serena nearly broke down.
“It’s time for us to go,” Colt said after a few minutes.
She wiped her eyes and said goodbye, then lapsed into silence as Colt drove away from the hospital. The traffic and lights of Miami became a blur, the memory of finding those children trapped in that hot building haunting her.
Rice had left the girls. So why hadn’t he left Petey there, as well?
She didn’t like the answers that came to her.
Colt pulled into a motel off 95 and Serena frowned. “What are you doing?”
“Getting us a room. You haven’t slept in days and neither have I. The FBI and police are on the case, the port authorities and airports are on alert, and we both need some rest. We’ll start again in a few hours.”
“I can’t sleep,” Serena said.
Colt took her hand. “Then you’ll lie down or grab a shower and rest. Maybe by then we’ll get another lead. Right now we don’t even know where to search.”
Serena knew he was right, but she couldn’t stand to sit idly. Her body was too tense, too…exhausted.
Colt parked in front of the motel and she waited inside the car while he secured a room. A minute later, he returned with a key, and drove to the end of the parking lot. Exhausted, she climbed out and went to retrieve her luggage, but he grabbed both their bags and gestured for her to go to the door. For a fraction of a second, she considered arguing over the fact that he’d only rented one room, but she didn’t have the energy.
Besides, she didn’t want to be alone. Not with her fears and her emotions.
He dumped their bags on the floor, and she opened hers and dragged out a nightshirt then went straight to the shower.
But as she stripped and climbed beneath the water, her emotions overcame her and she finally released more tears of frustration and terror. She wanted to scream and shout and pound the walls. She wanted to find Rice and kill him.
She wanted to hold her son so badly that she felt as if she was going to crack in two. She would never be whole without him.
And she would never stop looking. Not even if she had to travel from country to country combing the streets to find him.
The water turned cold so she towel dried her hair and body and slipped on the satin shirt. When she opened the door, steam billowed out, and she saw Colt lying on the bed with his arms crossed behind his head.
The TV was on, a special news broadcast airing the story about the rescue of the two girls as their parents rushed them to a waiting FBI car to be driven to a local hotel for the night.
Serena’s eyes welled with tears again, then she glanced at Colt and something raw inside her snapped.
He was still fully dressed, but the heat and emotions in his eyes sent a deep longing through her. She wanted to be held tonight. To be stroked and soothed and comforted, and loved.
Even if it was only for a few minutes.
Anything to forget the images of those terrified children locked in that hangar.
Anything to stifle the pain of her son’s cries when he’d phoned.
Colt’s dark gaze caught hers, then flickered with understanding.
She couldn’t put her needs above her son, but right now, she had to do whatever she could to survive the pain so she could regain her strength and find him.
Colt held out a hand and she went to him.
Chapter Fifteen
Colt told himself to back off. To tell Serena that they shouldn’t make love, but the yearning in her eyes made his protests die in his throat. She had been through an emotional wringer and needed to feel alive.
How many times had he felt that way himself?
Too many to count.
She curled her fingers into his hair, then lowered her mouth to his, and pure hunger heated his blood. She wanted to forget tonight. To drown out the pain and fear eating her alive.
He wanted to give her that reprieve. But not as much as he wanted her for himself.
He had wanted her from the first moment he’d looked into those dazzling troubled eyes. She had secrets, a past she didn’t want to share.
But so did he.
She closed her lips over his, and he hungrily consumed her mouth, eagerly pulling her against him. He hadn’t been with a woman in ages, hadn’t even wanted to. The ones he’d come into contact with on the job weren’t worth the trouble. Besides, most of them had lost their morals to the streets.
Not Serena. She had survived the streets and come out a better person for it.
She was everything a man desired. Beautiful. Smart. Tough.
A woman who treasured her family and fought for it.
She rubbed her body against him, and his sex hardened, straining against the fly of his jeans and begging to be inside her.
He stroked her back, trailed his hand down to cup her bottom and pure raw desire surged through him.
But one last seed of rational thought assaulted him, and he flipped her to her back, then paused above her. “Serena,” he said roughly. “I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“You sound like a broken record,” she said with a predatory gleam in her eyes. “Do you want me or not?”
He shoved her legs apart with his knee and settled himself between her thighs. “Of course I want you, but—”
“Shut up,” she murmured as she traced her tongue over his lips. “Now make love to me.”
He liked a woman who knew what she wanted, asked for what she wanted, a woman who was confident enough to give and take, and Serena was all that and more.
She tore at the buttons on his shirt, and he stripped her nightshirt, his heart hammering as he feasted on her bare breasts, two beautiful golden globes with nipples that stiffened at his perusal, teasing him and inviting him to suckle them into his mouth.
He deepened the kiss, ravaging her sweet taste. Adrenaline, heat and passion ignited between them in a fiery pitch. She stroked his bare chest, moaning as he licked his way down her throat to her breasts, and bit at one turgid nipple.
A
rching below him, she offered herself to him with such a throaty moan that he didn’t think he’d last much longer.
Smiling as she realized his excitement, she rubbed her crotch against him and licked his ear, and he feasted on her naked body with his eyes. Beauty didn’t begin to describe her.
She had scars, too. A jagged one on her thigh that looked like a knife wound, another just below her left breast. For a moment, he saw the vulnerability in her eyes, but he simply lowered his head and kissed the scars, knowing they’d made her the person she was just as his own had shaped him.
Eagerly, she tugged at his jeans, and he stood and shucked them off, grabbing a condom from his pocket before he sank back onto the mattress and allowed her to push his boxers off. Together they rolled on the condom, his bulging erection throbbing painfully in her hands.
Their gazes locked. Raw heat swirled in her expression. Her breathing was erratic. His was choppy, filled with tension as he fought to maintain control and make their lovemaking last.
Naked they lay together, stroking, rubbing, kissing, petting, teasing, entwined, his hard body against her soft, his need pulsing between her thighs, until he could stand it no longer. He rose above her, braced himself on his hands and stroked the silky skin of her inner thighs with his shaft.
She closed her eyes and released a moan that moved him deep within his heart. She wanted him. He wanted to be inside her. To pleasure her and make her his.
Hell, he was falling in love with her.
The idea sent a streak of terror through him, but she gripped his hips and pulled him toward her, and he thrust inside her. The first feel of her heat enclosing him, sucking at his length, milking him with her femininity, made his body quake.
She wrapped her legs around him as he inched from her sweetness, then slid back inside, pounding deeper. A low groan erupted from deep within her and she clung to him, her whisper of need begging for fulfillment.
He pumped harder and faster, thrusting deeper each time, stroking her inner chamber with his fullness, building a rhythm that quickly spiraled out of control, leaving them both panting and sweating and shouting as her orgasm rocked through her. At her outburst, he finally allowed himself to taste the sweet bliss of his own release.