Deadly Exchange

by Lisa Harris

  Levi kept his own expression neutral, wishing he could ignore the fact that the man might be right. “We’ll see about that, but before we leave, I need to know who else is in this house.”

  “Beside the three of us?” The guard shrugged, clearly trying to play hardball. “No one.”

  “What about the girls they bring through?” Kayla asked. “What about my father?”

  “Who Nicu brings to his house is his business. I was hired simply to run security. Especially when we have guests.”

  “How many guests come through this lovely estate?” Levi asked.

  “Not many. Nicu’s a private person. He prefers the quiet of the countryside.”

  “Which would explain the huge estate in the middle of nowhere. And the fact that he’s kidnapped a least three Americans in the past twenty-four hours.”

  Levi caught the flicker of alarm in the guard’s eyes. He might claim to be ignorant, but the man knew far more than he was letting on.

  “Here’s the bottom line,” Levi said. “We know your boss is a part of a human trafficking ring. And we’re pretty sure that they bring them here before they end up on the streets.”

  His gaze shifted. “This estate is nothing more than an investment bought by my boss. You watch those American shows where they flip houses, don’t you? You can make a ton of money on a place like this bought at auction. Nicu’s planning to double his money this time around.”

  “A real estate flipper. That’s interesting. Because from what I’ve seen on these American shows, most of the time those real estate investors don’t kidnap people on the side.”

  “Nicu doesn’t like it when people try to get into his business.”

  “Maybe, but I have a feeling that Nicu isn’t going to be happy when he finds you tied to a chair after you let us go. But that’s fine. Because we know what’s really been going on here and plan to make sure the police know as well.”

  “Forget it. You can’t pin anything on me.”

  “Not even murder?” Kayla asked.

  “Murder? What are you talking about?”

  Levi glanced at Kayla. Maybe she’d found a nerve to strike after all. Maybe their guard drew the line at murder.

  “The body of a young girl was dredged out of the canal yesterday,” Kayla said. “One of Nicu’s girls. Apparently that’s what he does to people who cross him.”

  “Like I said, you have nothing on me.”

  “You’re wrong,” she said, clearly not finished. “We’re gathering evidence that can put you behind bars for the rest of your life, and I promise I will do everything in my power to ensure that is what happens. And not just for the unlawful trafficking of these girls, but for the kidnapping of my father as well.”

  “Like I said, you’ve got nothing.”

  The guard simply shook his head and laughed. They weren’t getting anywhere.

  “You think this is amusing?” she asked. “Because you won’t when you’re sitting in a jail cell. Tell me where my father is.”

  “Lady, I don’t have to tell you anything. So if you think that your threats are going to work, forget it.”

  Levi glanced at Kayla. Without more time, he doubted there was anything else he could get out of the man. And he wasn’t willing to risk running into Nicu.

  Levi pulled Kayla aside. “It’s over. We need to go. Now.”

  “Not yet. He’s lying. He has to know where my father is.”

  “He’s not going to tell us, Kayla. He’s just going to try to keep stalling us. That’s what he wants. Because he is right about one thing. Nicu will return, and if we’re still standing here playing bad cop, good cop when he does, we’re not going to be able to do anything to help your father.”

  Her jaw quivered. “If he’s here and we leave, you know what they’ll do to him.”

  “We’ll find a way to put an end to all of this, but this isn’t the way. Not anymore. We need to leave so we can help your father.”

  He could read the conflict in her eyes. The deep frustration and feelings of helplessness that made him wish desperately he could fix this. But if they stayed any longer, they could easily forfeit any chance of finding her father altogether.

  “Kayla...we need to go.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, pulling on the guard’s jacket.

  She pressed her lips together and grabbed the backpack. “Let’s go.”

  Ten

  Kayla waited while Levi unlocked the front door with the guard’s key, praying that after making it this far, they’d find a way off the property.

  “You okay?” he asked, slipping the set of keys into his pocket.

  “I will be once we get out of here.”

  She blinked back the tears, overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation. They might be out of the house, but they weren’t exactly home free. She glanced down the long walk that led to the driveway and studied the terrain. The house rested on the south side of the property. The surrounding vegetation and green lawn—dense like the gardens around them—were big enough that she couldn’t see the edges of the property. Which meant all they had to do now was make it to the wall, scale the perimeter fence, then find a ride back into the city without getting caught.

  Right.

  “Where are the dogs?” she asked, wrapping the scarf Levi had found around her neck to block the wind. The sun might be up, but the temperatures had yet to rise.

  “I don’t know, but I saw two of them from the house. German shepherds.”

  “Ready to eat us for lunch,” she mumbled.

  “Are you afraid of dogs?” he asked as they headed away from the house toward the front gate, keeping close to the overgrown tree line as they went.

  “I love them, actually. But that doesn’t mean I’m in the mood for an encounter with a couple of attack dogs.”

  She stuffed her hands into her pockets in an attempt to ward off the cold and felt her phone. She pulled it out and went to her contact list. Her first priority had to be finding a way to get a hold of Mercy in order to ensure she didn’t show up at the train station.

  “Kayla, wait.” Levi wrapped his hand around her fingers that were holding the phone.

  “What’s wrong? We can make sure Mercy doesn’t show up at Amsterdam Central.”

  “Which would be great, but before we try to call Mercy or the cavalry, we need to make sure Nicu isn’t tracking the phone’s GPS or monitoring its calls.”

  “In case Mercy tries to call me.” She sobered at the words.

  He nodded. “We can’t take a chance of us leading them to her.”

  She let him take the phone. “You think they what...put some sort of spyware on my phone?”

  “Since we found that one guy with spy gear at the girls’ apartment? Yeah. I’m not putting anything past them. Not at this point. Who knows what his plan is?” He nodded toward the house. “I know we need to get out of here, but this shouldn’t take long. Just keep an eye out for the dogs.”

  She glanced back toward the house while Levi went to work on the phone—and she battled the sick feeling growing inside her. They were standing beneath a copse of trees that should keep them hidden if Nicu drove up, but as much as they needed a phone to call for help, they also needed to get off the property.

  “How did you learn all of this?” she asked, clueless as to what was involved in detecting spyware.

  “It helps if you run a company with a highly qualified security officer who insists on training that goes beyond private board meetings and occasional security emails. He thought it might come in handy one day after a handful of threats, so I spent a couple days with our IT guys. They taught me a ton of stuff.”

  “Regarding security threats?”

  “That’s where it started. About six months ago, instead of getting a new phone
, I decided to get mine fixed at a local repair shop. But after I got it back, I noticed that my data usage had increased significantly and there were often strange background noises when I made a call.”

  “All from spyware?”

  “A disgruntled employee had paid off someone to put the malware on my phone in an attempt to gain some inside trading information.” He shook his head. “Looks like the GPS was turned off, probably in case the police try and track it, but I also found spyware.”

  So Levi had been right.

  “There’s a trap door in this particular spyware that will monitor any calls. Getting rid of it is going to be tricky. I’m going to have to find and delete those files.”

  She was pacing again, both from nerves and trying to stay warm. Another roadblock wasn’t what they needed right now.

  “Is this worth waiting for?” she asked.

  “It is if we’re going to try to get help.”

  The sound of a motor in the distance caught her attention. Sun reflected off a vehicle as it drove through the front gate and started up the drive. Nicu—or someone—was here.

  Levi grabbed her hand. “I’ve started running an update that should delete the spyware. But in the meantime, we need to get out of here.”

  He didn’t have to tell her twice.

  They ran east, away from the driveway, careful to stay among the overgrown trees and bushes. But keeping hidden wasn’t going to be enough. Levi had seen the dogs, and they also knew that at least the front part of the property was fenced, if not the entire property. They had to find a way out and to the main road before Nicu realized they weren’t in the house and came searching for them.

  Which meant at this point, every second counted.

  Kayla held her breath as a black sedan with tinted windows in the back drove past them, its tires crunching the gravel beneath it. She stifled a sneeze as the vehicle finally stopped at the end of the drive, then Nicu and his brother jumped out and headed for the house.

  “It’s them,” she said.

  “Let’s go.”

  Levi took her hand again and headed toward the front gate, careful to stay in the shadows. Praying desperately that they weren’t seen.

  “How much time do you think we have until they start searching outside the house?” she asked.

  “I’m guessing just as long as it takes to meet up with the security guard and get his side of the story.”

  Which meant minutes at the most.

  A ten-foot iron fence topped with razor wire surrounded the property as far as she could see. Getting over it was going to be difficult if not impossible. They started along the perimeter of the fence toward the front gate, searching for a way out.

  “I’m not seeing an easy way over this fence,” she said.

  “I agree, and the property’s too big for us to take the time to check out the entire fence line for vulnerabilities.”

  “We could head for the front gate,” Kayla said. “It should be possible to open it manually.”

  Levi glanced at her. “So in other words, we need to hope it’s easier to get out than in.”

  “Exactly.”

  And if Nicu and his brother started searching the grounds before they got out of here...

  He was still holding her hand as they slipped through the trees toward the gate. It wasn’t the first time she realized how thankful she was that he was here. There was something protective about his presence. Something that managed to quiet her anxious spirit. For a moment, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to let him wrap his arms around her and promise her that nothing was going to hurt her. Not the dogs. Not Nicu or his security detail.

  But that was a place she couldn’t go.

  Show us what to do, God...

  Because there were no guarantees that he was going to be able to get them out of here without getting caught. And her falling apart wasn’t going to help, either.

  She kept moving alongside Levi, alert for any signs of either the dogs or Nicu. Levi squeezed her hand tighter as they ran, giving her a shot of courage that worked to calm her nerves.

  Kayla stumbled over a fallen branch, then quickly regained her balance. Movement caught the corner of her eye and she momentarily slowed down. The two German shepherds were running toward them.

  “Levi, forget Nicu...we’ve got a second problem.”

  * * *

  Levi heard the dogs a split second before he saw them.

  “Kayla...we need to run—”

  “Stop. Stay where you are.” She let go of his hand, then tugged gently on the sleeve of his jacket. “We need to stay still and calm. Avoid any eye contact and don’t turn your back on the dogs.”

  Her command threw him off. He was used to making split-second decisions—and right now his assessment of the situation said run—but something about the urgency in her voice made him follow her lead.

  “Do you really think that’s a good strategy at this point?” he asked.

  “You might be the expert on military stuff, but my grandfather used to train K-9 handlers. Which is why I know dogs and that running at this point is worse.”

  “I’d forgotten about that,” he said, still not totally convinced.

  But there was no way they could get back to the house or, for that matter, to the perimeter fence, before the dogs caught up with them.

  “Gramps taught me everything I know. Most dogs aren’t planning to bite, even when they’re aggressive. Well-trained attack dogs don’t attack unless their owners are being threatened or they’ve been given a command. But if you run, they’re going to instinctively chase us, and if that happens, they will catch us.”

  “Not if we can run faster than the dogs.”

  “Trust me, the odds are against that happening. It will amp up their aggression, and we will lose. I’ve seen it happen more than once. So no sudden arm movements, hands in your pockets, no eye contact.”

  Levi felt his blood pressure go up. He’d faced human enemies with less apprehension than this. “These aren’t family pets, Kayla. They’re trained guard dogs.”

  They were now thirty yards away and closing in quickly.

  “I know,” she said.

  “We’ve got less than ten seconds until they’re here. Are you sure about this?”

  “Face them, but don’t make eye contact. Hopefully if we stay still they will calm down and lose interest.”

  Hopefully?

  He didn’t like those odds.

  But while he still wasn’t convinced, he was going to trust her on this one. “Did I ever tell you that I was bitten by a dog when I was seven? I still have a scar from the encounter.”

  “Did you run?”

  He frowned. “Touché.”

  Five more seconds.

  He’d run, and the dog had bitten into the side of his calf. Since then he’d never felt comfortable around large dogs.

  “Just don’t move, Levi.”

  The dogs were close enough now that he could see their teeth and the muscles rippling beneath their fur. Which meant despite her confidence, every muscle in his own body was still screaming at him to run.

  He studied the dogs without making eye contact. They slowed their pace as they approached them, intense with each step forward, teeth bared. That couldn’t be a good sign.

  “What do I do if they decide to attack?” he whispered.

  “Try to put something between you and the dog.”

  Like what? My arm?

  “If they do happen to knock you down,” she continued, “roll into a ball and lie still, covering your head and face with your hands.”

  Right.

  “What if your plan doesn’t work?” he asked.

  He could hear Kayla’s steady breathing next to him as she appeared to be studying the dogs’ reactions. The animals se
emed confused. Like they were ready for a chase, but no one was running. Maybe she’d been right after all.

  He let out a puff of air. “Kayla...”

  “Zitten.”

  He caught the calm authority in her voice and prayed her plan would work. Because there was going to be no second chances.

  “Zitten,” she repeated.

  The dogs sat.

  “You told them to sit?”

  “Yes.”

  “So we’ve got dogs that speak Dutch,” he mumbled, still not moving a muscle.

  “What did you expect them to speak?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t exactly think about language skills while imagining being strewn across the yard in pieces by this point.”

  “You do have a point.”

  “We need to get to the gate.” He turned slightly in order to eye the fence, but they were still at least twenty yards away. “How do you want us to do this without turning away from the dogs?”

  “Start walking back slowly toward the gate.”

  Her plan might have worked so far, but what was going to happen when they started moving? They couldn’t simply stand here forever. And if Nicu and his brother showed up in the meantime and gave commands to attack them, any impasse happening at the moment was going to be over.

  “I’m going to start moving toward the gate,” he said.

  “Okay. Just move slowly.”

  He didn’t need a reminder. He started backing up, freezing for a moment when a dry branch cracked beneath his foot.

  “Keep moving,” she said.

  Another fifteen yards...ten...

  His heart was still racing, and they were running out of time. He hadn’t come all this way to keep her safe to have them mauled by a couple of guard dogs. He took another step backward, staying parallel with Kayla as she spoke to the dogs in a soft, soothing voice. The dogs were still sitting, though he could see their muscles tensing through their thick coats. He had no idea how much time they had.

  “I’m going to have to try to open the gate manually,” he said.

  “No quick moves,” she said. “Just slow and steady.”

  He turned slightly, continuing his earlier prayer for protection, then searched for the manual release. Finally finding it, he pulled it out, then grabbed the iron bars of the gate. They moved an inch. He let out a sharp sigh of relief.